Technical Field
The disclosure relates to a sample holder for annealing apparatus and an electrically assisted annealing apparatus using the same.
Related Art
Thermoelectric material is capable of converting electric energy and thermal energy through a Seebeck effect or a Peltier effect. Since the thermoelectric material is a solid state material, and a thermoelectric module using the thermoelectric material has no moving part, the thermoelectric module has advantages of high reliability, long service life and no noise, etc. Performance of the thermoelectric module relates to a thermoelectric material characteristic, hot and cold end temperature (Thot and Tcold) of the module and temperature difference (ΔT), where the thermoelectric material characteristic is represented by a figure of merit (ZT) value. The ZT value mainly relates to a Seebeck coefficient, electrical conductivity and a thermal conductivity, and the above three parameters also directly determine whether the material has a good thermoelectric property. The higher the ZT value is, the more obvious the thermoelectric effect is, and a relationship thereof is:
  ZT  =                              α          2                ⁢        σ            k        ⁢    T  
Where, α is the Seebeck coefficient, σ is the electrical conductivity, k is the thermal conductivity, and T is the absolute temperature.
Recent studies show that microstructures (for example, nanocrystalline and precipitated phases, etc.) may increase the ZT value of the thermoelectric material. Suitable annealing step ensures nanophase precipitation of the nanocrystalline of the thermoelectric material after hot-pressing consolidation, and eliminates lattice defects, etc., so as to achieve ideal nanoscale microstructures and thermoelectric characteristic.